The present invention relates generally to apparatus and mechanisms for the winding take-up of a traveling textile fabric and, more particularly, to an apparatus for combination directly with a textile fabric producing machine, especially warp knitting machines.
Conventional warp knitting machines, like many other textile fabric producing machines, are equipped with a fabric take-up mechanism to which the knitted fabric is directed for winding onto a roll. In the ongoing operation of the machine, the roll of wound fabric is periodically doffed from the take-up mechanism once the roll reaches its predetermined capacity. The roll of fabric is then transported to another location for further processing, such as dyeing, bleaching, or other wet processing operations, mechanical treatments such as brushing, napping, tigering, or shearing operations, etc.
One of the significant disadvantages of conventional warp knitting machinery is the inherent limitation on their capacity for take-up winding of the knitted fabric produced on the machine, which limitation is a direct result of the limited ability of the machines to monitor and control tension in the fabric during the winding operation. The known conventional warp knitting machines typically utilize a dancer roll mechanism for controlling fabric tension, but as those persons skilled in the art will recognize, dancer roll mechanisms are essentially only capable of providing relatively rough control of fabric tension by ensuring a minimum tension level is maintained. Further, dancer roll mechanisms do not provide the ability to adjustably vary fabric tension over the course of the winding operation, which would be advantageous with some types of fabrics, e.g., pile and plush surface fabrics. This inability for precise programmable tension control in warp knitting machine take-up mechanisms necessarily limits the maximum capacity to which the fabric can be wound without risking damage to the fabric.
On the other hand, it would be highly desirable for warp knitting machines to be appropriately equipped with a take-up mechanism capable of precise and programmable tension control to enable the take-up capacity of the machines to be substantially increased and, in turn, to enable the subsequent processing of the fabric to be handled in larger quantities and without any intermediate step of rewinding the fabric on another roll or support. It would be especially beneficial in this regard to be able to wind textile fabric at the take-up of the knitting or other fabric producing machine directly onto a dyeing tube or roll so that the wound fabric could subsequently be transported directly to a dyeing station without any intermediate handling or processing of the fabric. In any case, significant improvements in fabric producing efficiency and reductions in manufacturing costs would be realized.